Today, on Love – Sex – Fur, we have a beautifully illustrated comic about the confluence of adult comics and the furry subculture! Head on over to check it out here! Note that, as with most all LSF content, the comic is not work-safe.

Yes, LSF is still out there and kicking! All of our recent submissions have fit more under the purview of [a][s], though, and that’s okay. This is your reminder, though, that both [adjective][species] and Love – Sex – Fur are always open for submissions, and as is evidenced by a comic post, we welcome submissions of all kinds!

Furries, or so it seems to me, have a split in their views. When it comes to sex, we are all in favor for allowing two individuals to get up to whatever they want, so long as they both consent. However, when it comes to money, we suddenly become a lot more wary about letting others make their own decisions. Surveys done by [adjective][species] seem to agree with this; finding social liberalism much higher than economic liberalism. It would seem that attitudes are correct on the former, but these are contradicted by the latter. In this essay, I will attempt to show why capitalism, and a free-furry-market, are ultimately a huge boon for the fandom.

Yet perhaps her best work is not a long story, but her collection of one- or two-page comics, published under the title Slices of Something.

Slices of Something is thematically united by its exploration of the boundaries of an anthropomorphic universe. The comics are, to a furry reader, immediately engaging and funny and, to a lay reader, befuddling. Her ideas are subtle enough to feel magical, yet deep enough that the magic doesn’t fade when you manage to put your finger on exactly what she’s doing.

Guest article by M.C.A. Hogarth, a writer of anthropomorphics, science fiction, and fantasy. Her fiction has variously been recommended for a Nebula, a finalist for the Spectrum, placed on the secondary Tiptree reading list and chosen for two best-of anthologies; her art has appeared in RPGs, magazines and on book covers. She is also Vice President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.

Let me say this first: Yes, I am the vice president of a professional association of writers. And yes, I believe that artists should be paid, and not a pittance, for what they do. I take that as given.

Having said that, though: if I want to give my work away, I have that right. If I want to sell a $1500 painting for a dollar to someone without the money to buy it at full price, that’s my right. If I want to exchange a piece of art for the opportunity to pet a puppy for half an hour, if I want to jack the price down because I like the editor, the venue, the issue, if, basically, for any reason I want to hand my work over for less than people think I should, I’m allowed… and no, I don’t think you’re in the right when you tell me I’m “de-valuing” art.

Zootropolis (known as Zootopia in some countries) is an upcoming Disney film, led by the creative team behind modern fairytales such as Tangled and Wreck-It Ralph. It’s caused no small amount of excitement within furry, not least because of its embrace of the term “anthropomorphic”.

In furry circles, Zootropolis has few points of comparison. A similar buzz was created following the announcement of a 2004 Simpsonsesque comedy series called Father of the Pride, although in that case any excitement died quickly. While it’s reasonable to guess that Zootropolis will fare better than Father, both have something that makes them stand out—to furries—in a crowd of animated anthropomorphics.

Discussions around the topic tend to be highjacked by those making the biggest noise, either pro or con. Extreme viewpoints tend to attract extreme reactions, which produces a familiar deathspiral of invective. Such conversations tend to shed a lot of heat and precious little light.

In furry, such drama tends to appear whenever unusual sexual practices or identities are discussed – zoophilia or coprophilia for example. I speculated in a recent article that the haters are often closeted versions of the object of their hate. I think this might also apply to someone who is anti-cub porn, however it’s a more complex issue from a moral, legal, and ethical perspective.

There is certainly a disconnect between the prevalence of cub porn and the level of conversation. On sites where it is allowed (and even sometimes when it is not), it’s ubiquitous. A full 4.4% (out of 650,000) of posts on e621.net* are tagged “cub”. Yet attraction to underage characters is discussed as if it existed in the extreme margins of furry.

* As of July 2015.

The prevalence of cub porn suggests that a significant minority of furries are paedophiles. Or, to use a less inflammatory phrase, many furries are sexually attracted to underage characters.

I’m not really sure how I wound up getting involved with the postfurry community. I mean, I can point to the moment that I found furry itself and how what went from a curious interest built into something decidedly more (a passion? an obsession?), but the same isn’t necessarily the case with postfurry. If I start tracing the lines backwards, rather a lot of them converge on one critter in particular, Indi.

Indi has been a friend for quite a while now, actually.Ve is most often seen around as a synthetic coyote-otter hybrid – a coyotter, or simply yotter – with glowy markings that range from cyan to blue to purple. Indi, being synthetic, along with ver gender identity, is the source of ver pronouns, ve/ver/vis.

I think I’ve known ver for about two or three years and we’ve connected on a lot of different levels, from our shared interest in mead and other tasty drinks, to our paths along the road to genderqueer identities that share many similarities. We’ve acted as part of a support network for each other with some frequency, and that, probably more than anything else, served as what passes for my entry point to postfurry.

A disclaimer from our anonymous contributor

This is not an authoritative guide. These aren’t hard rules, they don’t apply to all situations. Etiquette is a common code of polite behaviour designed to avoid unnecessary conflict. Etiquette doesn’t always go far enough and it often goes too far. I think the best case is that this guide informs your better judgement.

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[adjective][species] is a blog that takes a look at the furry fandom from the inside. The writings here come from a wide variety of furry authors, and cover any and all meta-furry topics that we can get our paws on.